CITY & SCHOOLS
News from Richardson & Richardson ISD
Richardson City Council will meet March 20 and 27 at 6 p.m. Due to a re at City Hall, council meetings have been temporarily relocated to the Richardson Police Department at 200 N. Greenville Ave. www.cor.net Richardson ISD board of trustees will meet March 9 and 30 at 6 p.m. at the RISD Administrative Building, 400 S. Greenville Ave., Richardson. The meetings are streamed live online. www.risd.org MEETINGS WE COVER tax rate of $1.0409 per $100 valuation. The portion of RISD’s tax rate used to pay principal and interest on bonds approved by voters, known as the debt service tax rate, remains unchanged at $0.35. The total tax rate is set at $1.3146 per $100 valuation, the lowest overall rate in seven years. HIGHLIGHTS RICHARDSON ISD The district set a maintenance and operations tax rate that is its lowest in 30 years, according to a Jan. 12 board of trustees meeting. District o cials said Richardson ISD’s M&O tax rate will be $0.9646 per $100 valuation, which is 7.3% lower than last year’s operating
Dubey, DePuy running for mayor position; 3 city council races have multiple candidates
Richardson ISD board election draws challengers for 2 trustee positions
School district adds weather makeup day
WHEN TO VOTE
Here is when to vote in the upcoming 2023 Richardson City Council and Richardson ISD elections.
BY JACKSON KING
BY JACKSON KING
in the 2014 board election. Abadie lost to Kristin Kuhne for at-large Place 7 in 2014. Rentería was rst elected in 2020. Incumbent Eric Eager is running against challenger Blake Sawyer in the at-large Place 6 race. Sawyer previously ran for at-large Place 7 in the 2021 election, nishing third out of seven candidates. Eager was rst elected in 2020. Board members serve three-year staggered terms and are not subject to term limits. Five of the seven The exemption for people who are over age 65 and/or disabled is used by Richardson to alleviate some of their property tax burden, according to city o cials. It is designed to be about 30% of the average value of a senior’s house. With the increase, senior residents
BY JACKSON KING
RICHARDSON ISD The district announced during a Feb. 16 board of trustees meeting that it is designating April 10 as an instructional day to account for inclement weather cancellations in late January and early February. That day was previously earmarked by the district as a weather makeup day. Superintendent Tabitha Branum said the district needs to use that day to o set the four- day school closure between Jan. 31-Feb. 3 due to inclement weather conditions. Branum said the district has no plans to alter its other designated weather makeup date, April 7, at this time. According to state regulations, RISD is required to have 75,600 instructional minutes per year. The district intentionally includes 440 instructional minutes in its school days, more than the 420 required by the state, to bank for additional weather makeup days. District o - cials said the rst two school cancellations, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, were o set by banked minutes. During the Feb. 16 meeting, the RISD board also approved an action item to compensate employees during the four school closure days.
RICHARDSON ISD The ling deadline for the district’s May 6 board of trustees general election ended Feb. 17 with four candidates signing up for the two seats that are up for election. Both the at-large Place 6 and single-member District 3 seats will see contested races in the upcoming election. In the District 3 race, incumbent Debbie Rentería will face challenger Bonnie Abadie, who previously ran
ELECTION CONTENDERS
RICHARDSON The mayoral seat and all six City Council seats are on the ballot for the May 6 election, and four of those races are contested. Council Members Bob Dubey and Janet DePuy are running for Richardson mayor. Dubey, who retired as Richardson ISD athletic director in 2016, has represented Place 1 since 2017. DePuy was elected to council’s Place 3 seat in 2019 after serving on the Richardson City Plan Commission for over 10 years. Mayor Paul Voelker previously announced that he was not seeking re-election, stating he did not want to head into the next cycle as a “lame duck” mayor. In the three contested council races, Curtis Dorian is running against G. Scott Waddell to succeed Dubey for Place 1. For Place 3, which was left vacant by DePuy, Stephen Springs is facing o against Dan Barrios. The only incumbent facing a challenger for re-election is Council Member Ken Hutchenrider. He is running against Todd Hunter for Place 5, which is an at-large seat. Three other incumbents are unopposed for the remaining council races with Jennifer Justice running for Place 2, Joe Corcoran running for Place 4
Early voting: April 24 - May 2
Council Members Bob Dubey and Janet DePuy are running in the Richardson mayoral election after Paul Voelker announced he would not seek re-election.
Election Day: May 6
SOURCE: CITY OF RICHARDSON COMMUNITY IMPACT
seats on the board are chosen by registered voters of speci c dis- tricts, while the remaining two seats are elected at large by all voters.
Bob Dubey
Janet DePuy
Curtis Dorian and G. Scott Waddell are running for Place 1. Stephen Springs and Dan Barrios are running for Place 3.
City approves raising senior tax exemption
are expected to collectively save more than $6.2 million in taxes. City o cials said the increase provides a more than 31% estimated tax bene t on the average value of a senior’s home for scal year 2023-24, adding it will cut an additional $140 from tax bills annually for eligible households.
SOURCE: CITY OF RICHARDSON COMMUNITY IMPACT
and Are n Shamsul running for Place 6. The mayor and all council members are elected to two-year terms with no member allowed to serve more than six consecutive two-year terms in any place, according to city o cials.
BY JACKSON KING
RICHARDSON The city increased its senior tax exemption by $25,000 to $130,000 at a Feb. 13 meeting.
DALLAS 9500 North Central Expressway (214) 369-2800 ADDISON 15055 Inwood Road (972) 239-5891
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